


Summer School Sorta Doesn't Suck

by pastelsuperhero



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Summer School, Black-Hispanic Roman and Remy, Deceit has vitiligo and heterochromia, Deceit's name is Dolos, Emile and Logan are brothers and they have two rockin moms, Emile is school counselor, Emile's middle name is Picani for... reasons, Japanese-Caucasian Virgil, Roman and Remy are twins, Summary may change, Thomas is the principal, Virgil lives with his rockin grandparents, and he's also a rockin single dad to Deceit and Patton, mixed race Roman and Remy, mixed race Virgil, sympathetic deceit, tags to be added with each new chapter, title may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 05:01:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17135438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelsuperhero/pseuds/pastelsuperhero
Summary: Six teens. One summer. So many shenanigans.





	Summer School Sorta Doesn't Suck

“Let me get this straight,”

Logan let out a small huff of a laugh as he placed another book back on its proper shelf, muttering to his brother, “You could try, I guess.”

Emile made a show of rolling his eyes at him but couldn’t help the smile that graced his features. He repositioned himself against the library table he was leaning on, folding his hands and putting one leg over the other. “You’re really going to spend your summer here? At the school?”

Shrugging, Logan glanced at the materials he’d gathered beside him, taking a small second to respond. “You’ve never questioned how I want to spend my summers before, Emile.” He pointed out.

“That’s true,” Emile conceded, “I just… don’t know what led you back here for the summer. I would’ve thought you wanted to spend your summer reading, or working on your personal projects, or… I mean, isn’t that what summer is for, Lo?”

“What do you mean?” Logan questioned.

“I mean, summer break is your time to… take a break.” Emile chuckled. “Do you have anything you’d like to spend your well-earned free time on instead of being here at the school?”

Logan gave it some thought, and Emile let him think. “Well,” he started, “I don’t have any book series I’m reading right now, I recently finished one of my personal projects, and… I like tutoring.” He finished, nodding his head with the final statement.

“You do?” Emile prodded farther.

Logan paused again, giving thought to his answer. “Yes.” He stated matter-of-factly. “I like teaching others. I like…” His lip quirked in thought, a face fidget Emile knew his little brother never realized he did. “I like when I help someone understand something their own way, and when you can see their understanding of the subject on their face. I like helping people learn.”

Emile hummed, deciding that was a good enough argument for him. Changing the subject, he asked, “So, you think you’d like to be a teacher one day?”

“Actually, yes.” Logan said, nodding on the final word again. “It is… rather enjoyable. For me.”

“Do you think you’d like to work here, with me, your bestest, most loving big brother? Oh, or at a bigger school? Oooh, or perhaps a college professor?” Emile asked, wiggling his eyebrows and leaning over to help Logan back up off the library floor once he’d decided he was done looking at that particular shelf.

Logan chuckled at him, and explained, “You’re my only big brother. And I haven’t given that particular area much thought.”

Emile gasped loudly, earning a half-hearted glare from the librarian. “Logan Crofter!? Not thinking all the scenarios through?!” He grasped at his chest and pretended like he might faint.

Logan play-scowled at him, transferring everything in his arms to one so he could slap Emile’s shoulder. “Go on, I’m finished in here. Go tell some unfortunate kids their summer school demise.” He gave a haunting effect to his voice, knowing Emile would get a kick out of it.

“Alright, alright, go get some last-day-lunch. Maybe sit next to someone instead of reading Hounds of Baskerville again?! Who knows!?” When Logan went to slap him again, he dodged. As he started parting ways with Logan, he added, “Don’t forget! I’m driving you back to Mom and Ma’s house when school ends. Meet me in my office?”

Logan nodded back at him as he continued to walk towards the lunchroom. He used his free hand to wave, “Farewell!”

“Farewell!” Emile chuckled, smiling as he watched him turn the corner.

 

~~~

 

The first two faces that greeted him as they walked into his office were ones he knew well. Since Emile had gotten the job as school counselor two years ago, Patton and Dolos Sanders had always been hanging around after school hours while their dad, the schools own principal Thomas Sanders, ran around to finish errands. While closed off and reserved at first, once Emile showed them some kindness (and the collection of geeky memorabilia that decorated his space), they warmed right up to him. Some days they’d even just spend their time in Emile’s comfy little office after the bells rang and their dad was busy. Emile never minded one bit, and he loved both talking about cartoons with them and slowly getting them to be more open and comfortable. And if Thomas tearfully thanked him one slow afternoon, Emile never told anyone about it.

“Hey, you two! Do you how do?” Emile greeted, smiling wide.

Dolos fell into his seat with a slump, nearly throwing his letterman bag to the ground beside him as he sank. “We’re good, Picani. I mean, unless you’ve got some bad news to share.” Dolos gave him a wicked grin as he finished the sentence, moving to hold his different-colored hands together as if it was he who planted any supposed bad news to share. He winked his blue eye and Emile chuckled at his antics.

“Still using my middle name, I see. Well, Dolos, it’s not necessarily bad news that I have to share with you two.” Emile answered, turning to rummage through his small stack of papers and folders to find theirs.

“Not _necessarily_?” Dolos questioned.

Patton giggled from his seat, moving his hand to play with the lace hem of the flowy blue skirt he was wearing. “I’m sure Mr. Crofter’s news is just fine and dandy news, Dee!” He made eye contact with Emile and flashed him a huge smile, freckled cheeks bunching up and showing off his dimples.

“That’s the spirit, Party Patt!” Emile said dramatically, leaning forward over his desk to offer Patton a hand to high five. He would only put it back down once he received it, and fortunately, Patton didn’t leave him hanging. “Now! What I called you both in to talk about is your grades.”

Patton frowned for just a fraction of a second, and only the trained-in-Patton eyes could see his small deflate into his chair. “That bad, huh, doc?” He asked.

“No, no, not too bad, buddy. Just… well, it looks like you’re both going to have to attend summer school this year.” He looked between the both of them as he broke the news, hoping for the best.

“Oh,” Dolos said simply, “That’s not too bad.” He said, as if he was letting everyone in the room know. Quieter, he turned to face Patton and added, “Right, Patton?”

As if being snapped out of a haze, Patton shook his head and put on a bright smile. “Yeah!” He laughed, a little too loud, “That’s not so bad!” He started kicking  the leg that wasn’t sitting under him as much he could, which was a fair amount, being that it barely reached the floor at all. “Uh, what subjects are we making up?”

Emile opened up each folder, quickly scanning before he spoke up. “Dolos, it looks like you’re failing… biology. Patton, for you… it’s Algebra Two and English.” He watched Patton’s frown deepen in his peripheral vision.

“Well, on the bright side,” Patton chirped out, “maybe… since we’re only focusing on those subjects and not seven different classes… it’ll be easier?” He switched from swinging his leg to bouncing it, hands fidgeting with the tails of the braided yellow bracelet he wore in his lap. His eyes were hopeful as they made contact with Emile’s.

“Totally, buddy. And, fun fact, you’ll have a tutor! Huh?” He spread his arms out and raised his eyebrows as he offered it.

“Welp.” Dolos spoke again, popping the ‘p’. “If that’s all, Mr. Crofter, we really should be getting back to class.” He went to stand but shot Emile a grin, and Emile smiled warmly back.

“That’s all, kids. Make sure Thomas knows!” He reminded their retreating forms.

“Will do!” Patton told him, giving him a thumbs-up as he collected his bag. When he got the bag on his shoulders and stood completely, he paused. “Huh.”

“What is it, Patton?” Emile asked.

Patton let out a giggle before explaining, “Who would’ve thought – _both_ the principals sons, going to summer school?”

Dolos just rolled his eyes, making sure to exaggerate it more as Patton passed him by to lead the way out the door. “I think anyone who knows us, Pat.” He answered, deadpan, but still followed behind Patton, pausing to pet the stuffed version of Kaa the snake before leaving.

 

~~~

 

The next two faces to enter his office were identical in shape, but not in makeup. Roman and Remy Prince practically strutted to their seats in front of his desk, and Emile (as always) admired their confidence. He’d heard much about them - and the rest of their family - from their big sisters, Zoe and Valerie, who he’d went to school with. Zoe had always warned him that by the time he actually started his future job of counselor, he’d have to deal with her annoying little twin brothers, and now, here they all were. While they did end up here in his office a lot more than he expected, he never found them annoying in the slightest.

“Your majesties!” He joked. “Do you how do?”

Remy laughed as Roman gave Emile an exaggerated princely bow before taking their seats. “We’re doing good, girl.” Remy responded. “It’s nearly vacation time – and you know what that means?” He prompted.

“You get some beauty sleep, for once in your life?” Roman teased.

“Please, Ro. My eyebags are designer.”

The three of them shared a laugh before Emile pointed out, “You might want to take those sunglasses off before Larry sees… again.” He gestured vaguely at his own eyes.

Remy chuckled and obeyed, slipping them off his face and into the front pocket of his bag while adding, “I mean, what’s he going to do? Give me a detention? During summer?”

“Well…” Emile sucked in a breath, looking down at their pre-opened files. “About that.”

“Oh, I am _not_ a fan of where this conversation is headed.” Roman said matter-of-factly, moving to cross his legs.

“Unfortunately, it appears the both of you have a class or two you’re not doing so good in.” Emile told them. “Remy, you’re currently failing English. And Roman…” He quickly glanced at the file again. “You’re failing both Algebra Two and History.”

The room was quiet as the news sunk in. After a minute, Roman pursed his lips and spoke.

“So…?”

“So, you’re both going to have to attend summer school to make it up before next school year starts.” Emile finally admitted, an air of heavy finality settled with the words.

“That’s cold, Emile.” Remy stated. He grabbed his portable Starbucks cup from the ground beside his bag and took a long sip of its contents. The cup itself was a point of contention with most of the school staff, as they constantly told him to stop having it during non-lunch hours, and yet he still always had it. Eventually, they all gave up on getting him to stop. “Just like my coffee now. Cold.” He shook his head in mock disappointment.

“Sorry, kids. I don’t make the rules around here. It’s either this, or something worse. And I would hate to see anyone else take the lead for next years play.” He looked to Roman pointedly as Roman began to sputter.

“Excuse me?” He uncrossed his legs and planted both feet firmly on the floor. “Oh, I can do the summer school. Easy. Watch me.” He pointed a finger at both Emile and his twin as if they wouldn’t believe him.

Emile smiled and closed their files. “Good! Starts Monday.” He chuckled at their groans. “Good news is that’s all I needed to see you for. You are free to go, your majesties.” He gestured fancily toward the door.

Remy stood, prompting Roman to follow suit. He grabbed his sunglasses and slipped them back on his face, grinning and shooting finger guns back at Emile’s chagrinned expression. Both boys headed out the door, Remy holding out his right hand with silver-painted nails in a peace sign, and Roman holding out his left with gold-painted nails in the same way. “See ya, girl!” Remy called.

“See you, kids.” Emile chuckled after them.

 

~~~

 

When the door creaked open its final time, half a face with tired eyes and black hair dyed purple edges in the bangs peeking around the corner in his peripheral vision, Emile knew the visitor before Virgil Mikami even tentatively called out “Emile?” and softly shut the door behind him.

Emile took care to appear as gentle as possible, knowing it eased Virgil’s mind. “Heya, Virge. Do you how do?” He greeted softly. He’d seen quite a lot of Virgil since the start of last year. He knew that Virgil’s style made people assume things about him, and that Virgil never bothered to correct them. He knew Virgil never corrected anyone when they said he was gone because he was a delinquent who skipped class, never told anyone it was really some nasty panic attacks that caused him to miss portions of classes or even days when his kind grandma could come pick him up. He knew Virgil purposefully put up a harder, tougher persona with his classmates. Tended to have a ‘they can’t hurt you if you never let them close’ outlook on life. However, he was a good kid once he let down the walls – and, well, when a counselor sees and helps you through a panic attack or five, there’s not really a point in keeping up said walls.

Virgil hesitated at one of the two chairs, not sitting until Emile gestured for him to. He sat down slowly, pulling his handmade hoodie’s sleeves halfway down his hands to feel the comfortable fabric and shrugging. “Fine, I guess.”

“That’s good to hear, Virge.” Emile smiled to him again. “How’s your _baba_?” The word came out clunky in Emile’s mouth, but he knew Virgil would roll his eyes and smile at his trying, even if it wasn’t always using  _exactly_ the right word for the context of the conversation. When Virgil did just that, he could really see how deep-set the eyebags were today, and it made him inwardly cringe. And he’d thought Remy’s looked bad earlier.

“She’s good.” Virgil smiled, readjusting himself into a still stiff but more comfortable position. “So’s _jiji_.”

“That’s really great to hear! You tell that Hinata she’s welcome to bake me some more of those delicious cookies any time she wishes.” Emile gave an exaggerated wink, making Virgil snort lightly. The first time Virgil had an anxiety attack at the high school, it was only made worse by it being the first day, and he didn’t know who to come to for help. When Emile helped him out, and demanded the school call his grandparents to come pick him up instead of going back to class (“You wouldn’t keep walking on a broken leg, Virgil.”), his grandmother had been so thankful she brought by a tupperware container full of homemade cookies for ‘his generosity’ the following morning. Don’t tell either of Emile’s moms, but those were the best darn cookies he’d ever had.

“Will do.” Virgil told him. “So, uh… what was I called in for?”

“Oh, that’s right!” Emile snapped his fingers as he reached to open Virgil’s file. “So, uh… looks like you’re having trouble with World History.”

Virgil visibly sank farther into the chair, his hood sliding up from the force and moving to it halfway covering his head. “Yeah.” He admitted. “I’m… having trouble.”

“Hey, Virge, that’s okay! It just means that you need to attend summer school this year to make up for it.” Emile said hopefully.

Virgil didn’t say anything at first, just kept his gaze at the front of Emile’s desk, where a couple inspiring cat posters were taped on. “Oh.” He finally got out.

“Oh?” Emile asked.

“That’s… fine.” Virgil told him, making eye contact again. “It’s not like I’m doing much with my summer as it is.” He nodded with the end of the sentence as if he needed to convince himself as well.

“Well, hey, that’s the spirit, sort of!” Emile chuckled. “And on the bright side, it looks to me like there’s maybe only…” He took a second to think and counted on his fingers. “maybe five or six other people going to summer school this year, so… maybe you’ll feel less anxious than normal? Maybe even make a friend or two?” He proposed.

Virgil instantly looked away, down at his lap. He brought his hands together to pick at the cuticles while his brow furrowed in supposed thought. From his seat, Emile could see the black Virgil normally wore on his nails was half-chipped away already, and most of his cuticles were either a bright pulsing red, or a darker red of dried blood from picking too much. He inwardly cringed as he imagined how Virgil’s day must have been going for him to have picked them so much. When Virgil quickly glanced back up and caught him watching, he moved his hands to his sides guiltily, his grandmothers concerned pestering echoing through his mind. “I guess… I could _try._ ” He conceded.

“That’s all any of us can do, Virge.” Emile told him gently. “That’s also all I needed to call you in for. But,” he added, dragging out the last word, “It _is_ last period, and it _is_ halfway over, so…” He dragged out the word again, grinning as Virgil watched him for what he was going to say. “If you wanted to stay in here and _chill_ until the bell rings, that’s fine with me.” He made a funny hand gesture on the word ‘chill’, reminding Virgil of the way his grandfather said the word ‘hip’, even though he didn’t think Mr. Crofter was that much older than himself.

Virgil deflated with a small smile on his face. “Oh, thank _God_ ,” he got up as he moved to scoot all the way back into the chair so he could bring both legs up to criss-cross under him, “Nate sat behind me today, and he _would not stop_ shaking my desk, and clicking his pen, and making action sound effects?” Virgil went on. “I swear, I thought I was going to lose it, Emile.” He chuckled as he got his phone out of his pocket.

“I bet.” Emile chuckled.

The rest of the period passed in comfortable silence, the only noise coming from Virgil tapping on his phone, or Emile shuffling papers or humming theme songs lightly. Eventually, the bell did ring, and Virgil stood up and stretched, so many limbs popping Emile didn’t think it was possible.

“Thank you, Emile. See you later.” Virgil said faintly, giving a small wave before turning to walk out.

“See you later, bud.” Emile called back.

**Author's Note:**

> "baba" - one's own grandmother  
> "jiji" - one's own grandfather  
> (hey if you can speak any languages used in this fic and butchered by google translate and you wanna yell at me for stupid errors, go ahead please!)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! I'm sorry my title and summary sorta suck, but I greatly appreciate you checking it out anyway! Thank you for reading! Also, if you did enjoy, PLEASE I BEG HELP ME THINK OF A NAME FOR THIS HIGH SCHOOL. I COULD NOT THINK OF A THING. Thank you! ^_^
> 
> Deceit's name being 'Dolos' was first (well the first time I saw it, I guess) used by @the-pastel-peach on tumblr for her High School AU, "south Story High". PLEASE if you don't already follow this amazing person/artist go check her out!! ^_^
> 
> I have a tumblr! If you wish, follow me @PastelSuperhero! ^_^


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